Good Morning All,
I would like to relay to you a very pleasant and fruitful experience I have had with the Ruger, Newport, NH Service Department.
A few months back I range fired my Blackhawk .45 Convertible for specific testing. (If I ever had the chance at a western big game hunt I plan on having this revolver under my left arm!) With various loads the grouping at 25 yards was atrocious - approaching ~2 foot dia.!
From Ruger forums/chat boards (http://rugerforum.net/pistol-revolver-forum/, http://www.rugerforum.com/) I found that a Ruger had a history of undersized diameter cylinder throats (compared to the bore) specifically with the Blackhawk .45s. I had a gunsmith measure my cylinder throats, yielding from 0.4510 to 0.4520 inch for the .45 Colt Cylinder and from 0.4510 to 0.4530 inch for the .45 ACP Cylinder. I communicated with a few gunsmiths concerning cylinder throat reaming and received some further information and some pricing.
I also had a large degree of left/right slop when the Hammer was in full cock poition.
With all the above in the recent past I attended the NRA convention in Pittsburg, PA in March. As luck would have it, the first booth I saw as we reached the convention floor was “Ruger.” Deciding to give it a shot, I described the above problem to the first person that stepped forward to chat. He in turn, said “You have more going on than a throat problem. Give me a call next Monday”, and produced his business card.
Bearing in mind that some chat boards were sort of negative on past Ruger responses to the throat diameter issue, I was thinking ‘this was so much hot air’ and drop it. But the card, besides his name, Tom Sullivan, said VP Ruger Newport, NH Operations (or words to that effect.) Again, as luck would have it, he almost echoed the exact words that a recognized gunsmith had used after I had explained the problem. (At this point I’m thinking, ‘He may actually know quite a bit.’) The next Tuesday (3 May 11) I sent Tom an e-mail outlining our conversation and my previous findings and throat micrometer readings.
Now it gets even better; within an hour of sending my e-mail to Tom, my wife calls, saying to the effect that ‘Ruger wants to know when they can pick up the revolver.’ This is fast service!
Without too much more chatter let me summarize;
Chris Peters, Service Dept Supervisor, and I had multiple e-mails and TELCONs with the revolver being sent to Newport and returned to me twice. The Hammer, Base Pin, Transfer Bar, Front Sight & various screws have been replaced, the Barrel re-crowned, the Barrel forcing cone redone and the whole gun re-blued! On the second trip to Newport the Transfer Bar was again replaced and the Trigger / Transfer Bar adjustment was corrected and all the Cylinders reamed to 0.4520 inches. (The second time due to Transfer Bar having insufficient contact with Hammer.) Ruger range testing prior to the last shipment yielded ~7/8 in. group at 15 yards with .45 Colt Cylinder and 1-1/2 in. group at 15 yards with .45 ACP Cylinder.
My outside range testing after the last return yielded consistent 2-1/2 inch groups at 25 yards - probably the best I can do. ;-) This is Great!!
I must say that after two attempts to use Ruger’s ‘Safety Conversion Kit Installation Service’ in the late 70s / early 80s for my Single Six Convertible and .357 Blackhawk, I had a low expectation going into this (that’s another story.) Ruger has proved that premise to be entirely wrong. The service and response have been excellent. The revolver is fully operational with groups I would expect and may depend on (as in meeting a grizzly at inopportune time.)
Thank you to Ruger and the Ruger, Newport, NH Staff – I appreciate it!
R/
Leo A MacDonald
I would like to relay to you a very pleasant and fruitful experience I have had with the Ruger, Newport, NH Service Department.
A few months back I range fired my Blackhawk .45 Convertible for specific testing. (If I ever had the chance at a western big game hunt I plan on having this revolver under my left arm!) With various loads the grouping at 25 yards was atrocious - approaching ~2 foot dia.!
From Ruger forums/chat boards (http://rugerforum.net/pistol-revolver-forum/, http://www.rugerforum.com/) I found that a Ruger had a history of undersized diameter cylinder throats (compared to the bore) specifically with the Blackhawk .45s. I had a gunsmith measure my cylinder throats, yielding from 0.4510 to 0.4520 inch for the .45 Colt Cylinder and from 0.4510 to 0.4530 inch for the .45 ACP Cylinder. I communicated with a few gunsmiths concerning cylinder throat reaming and received some further information and some pricing.
I also had a large degree of left/right slop when the Hammer was in full cock poition.
With all the above in the recent past I attended the NRA convention in Pittsburg, PA in March. As luck would have it, the first booth I saw as we reached the convention floor was “Ruger.” Deciding to give it a shot, I described the above problem to the first person that stepped forward to chat. He in turn, said “You have more going on than a throat problem. Give me a call next Monday”, and produced his business card.
Bearing in mind that some chat boards were sort of negative on past Ruger responses to the throat diameter issue, I was thinking ‘this was so much hot air’ and drop it. But the card, besides his name, Tom Sullivan, said VP Ruger Newport, NH Operations (or words to that effect.) Again, as luck would have it, he almost echoed the exact words that a recognized gunsmith had used after I had explained the problem. (At this point I’m thinking, ‘He may actually know quite a bit.’) The next Tuesday (3 May 11) I sent Tom an e-mail outlining our conversation and my previous findings and throat micrometer readings.
Now it gets even better; within an hour of sending my e-mail to Tom, my wife calls, saying to the effect that ‘Ruger wants to know when they can pick up the revolver.’ This is fast service!
Without too much more chatter let me summarize;
Chris Peters, Service Dept Supervisor, and I had multiple e-mails and TELCONs with the revolver being sent to Newport and returned to me twice. The Hammer, Base Pin, Transfer Bar, Front Sight & various screws have been replaced, the Barrel re-crowned, the Barrel forcing cone redone and the whole gun re-blued! On the second trip to Newport the Transfer Bar was again replaced and the Trigger / Transfer Bar adjustment was corrected and all the Cylinders reamed to 0.4520 inches. (The second time due to Transfer Bar having insufficient contact with Hammer.) Ruger range testing prior to the last shipment yielded ~7/8 in. group at 15 yards with .45 Colt Cylinder and 1-1/2 in. group at 15 yards with .45 ACP Cylinder.
My outside range testing after the last return yielded consistent 2-1/2 inch groups at 25 yards - probably the best I can do. ;-) This is Great!!
I must say that after two attempts to use Ruger’s ‘Safety Conversion Kit Installation Service’ in the late 70s / early 80s for my Single Six Convertible and .357 Blackhawk, I had a low expectation going into this (that’s another story.) Ruger has proved that premise to be entirely wrong. The service and response have been excellent. The revolver is fully operational with groups I would expect and may depend on (as in meeting a grizzly at inopportune time.)
Thank you to Ruger and the Ruger, Newport, NH Staff – I appreciate it!
R/
Leo A MacDonald
